Wednesday, December 31, 2014

Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas (a bit late!) and Happy New Year….well almost! Where does time go? 2 months ago today I boarded a plane to China for 11 of the most impactful days of my adult life.  After I got home, the normal busyness of life set in, and I’ve been meaning to write about our last day in China, as well as to share some big news at home since then!

I still think about China and the children I met daily, as well as our team. We had a great last day after traveling back to Beijing for a stop on our way back home. It was a perfect way to end the trip; strolling through a beautiful park in Beijing- taking in the fall color, crisp air, BLUE skies, and interacting with the other park goers. We shopped, we majorly departed our Chinese cuisine for breakfast, lunch, and dinner with a meal at McDonalds, and we laughed and enjoyed these last few moments as a team on Chinese soil. Those 11 days had flown by, yet was plentifully filled with many memories, moments, emotions, and amazing stories.

To be completely honest, it was hard at times during those first couple weeks back home, and not just because of the jet lag, but because of the effort of trying to put into words the emotions I experienced in China; to find the words to tell the stories of the children who wait; to cull through the hundreds of images I captured on the journey – scanning through the precious faces of the children I played with, held, comforted, fed, and prayed for. It’s a lot to process – more than I anticipated. Not in a bad way, just in a thought provoking, “where do I start” kind of way.

So, just as I began I wanted to wrap up my China trip posts with pictures, and a few words of reflections on my time with them. These children are some of those that continue to wait to be matched with their forever families. They are amazing, wonderful, and precious children who are currently AVAILABLE (LID only or Special Focus on the AWAA Waiting Children site), and need a family! I will have a "part two" to this post up soon as well. 

"Jessa" : Sweet, clever, caring (she made sure I handed out stickers to others!), & full of personality!

"Caleb": Adorable, brave (he sung a solo!), kind, fun!

 "Mia & Chloe" : Adore each other and their care givers, so sweet, precious!

 "Charles": look at those cheeks! So cute!

 "Brandon": playful, enjoys being held (he was so curious to look out the window), so smiley!


 "Zack" : Desperately wants a family- and told us multiple times. He's a leader, caring, and fun!  
See more about Zack here : http://twentyless.com/zack/)

For more information on any of these waiting children, please contact waitingchildren@awaa.org.

And… for our big news. Perhaps it’s obvious? :)  

Paul and I have talked seriously about adopting again from China for about a year. (Ok… maybe it was more me talking seriously, and Paul listening ever so patiently…) Needless to say, it has definitely been on our hearts for some time. When Paul and I were first married, I didn't see myself as the mom of a big family. (Well, big family by my definition!) I have no idea why, because it seems natural now, but many don’t know that we had “decided” (LOL) that our family was complete after our 2nd child was born. We gave away the crib, changing table, clothes, baby toys- you name it. As soon as an item was grown out of, it left our house.  Paul and I just weren’t on the same page about adoption at the time. We had even had our first conversation about adopting even before we had our first child biologically (again, this was mostly me talking – for multiple years actually, and Paul listening… ;)). It’s amazing when I look back to see the story God was weaving all along. He was working in Paul’s heart, and mine- through it all.  He removed the fear from my heart after two difficult pregnancies and blessed us with our third child who I cannot imagine life without. He moved mountains in Paul’s heart, and mine in His perfect timing, and brought home our son from China in 2012. And now, still knitting together and pursuing (isn’t He always?), we have started the process to adopt again from China, and hope to get through our home study and dossier process in record time to prayerfully, bring home our daughter, whoever she may be. We are so grateful that God knows!


Again, Happy New Year! We are beyond excited for 2015…


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